Stolen
by Vampire Moogle
Summary: -Slash- It was supposed to be an easy job; grab the kid and get paid. But things don’t always turn out the way Leon planned.
1. Prologue

**_Disclamer: _**It is unfortunate, but I don't own any characters or products/companies mentioned in this story and I am making no money off of it.

**_Warnings: _**Slash, abuse, attempted suicide.

~*~

_**Prologue:**_

"They say you're the best," was all the other offered as an excuse for contacting Leon and dragging him outside during the late hours of the night. The pair was standing in a dark alley that was hidden from the usual shine of the town's glowing neon lights. It was the perfect spot for a shady business deal to go down in, and that's precisely why they were both there.

Leon said nothing. Merely staring at his potential client with his ever-present scowl. With the amount Leon had been offered for this job, he at least wanted to check it out. Most of his clients were small time criminals, enough to keep both of them under the radar of the law. But with business being slow lately, he couldn't afford to not at least look into the job. Ten thousand munny could go a long way.

Seeing that Leon wasn't going to respond any time soon, the man continued while reaching into his pocket, "the job is simple," he said, "I want this boy." He held out a worn out photograph of a pair of small twins, identical except for one boy was blond and the other a brunet. Along with it was a more recent picture of the brunet. He was with someone else, both laughing while walking down the street. It appeared that the teenager had no idea that he was being stalked.

So it's one of _those_ jobs. Leon hated this kind of work but took the photos to examine them anyway. The innocent brunet looked fairly young, but Leon was never good at judging people's ages; for all he knew, the kid could be anywhere from twelve to nineteen. After a few more moments of studying the photograph Leon held out the pictures for his client to take back.

"Aren't you going to say something," his client asked, taking only the older of the two photographs back. "And you can keep that one, there's more where that came from."

Leon felt the need to shudder at the disgusting implication, but instead he just shrugged and pocketed the photo. He didn't really need the picture but not accepting it would be rude and he didn't want to take the chance at offending this man and losing the potential business deal.

"Give me about a month to plan, figure out his schedule and grab him," Leon final spoke, his voice sounding low and calm. "And then you'll have the kid."

"Excellent," the shifty man in front of Leon replied.

"I will need all of the munny up front," Leon said, running his hand through his shoulder length brown hair. "Or you can stalk this kid from the shadows for the rest of your life."

His client's eyes narrowed and he hissed slightly. "All?" He obviously thought that this was a ridicules request.

Leon nodded. He didn't usually do business this way, but this particular job required a lot more time and effort than the shady deals he normally did. Not to mention the fact that it was almost time for him to pay rent if he wanted to keep his small apartment on the other side of Traverse Town.

"That's the deal," Leon finally said. "Take it or leave it."

~*~

_**AN:**_ So for not doing anything for a while, I've decided to upload a new story. I haven't given up on the other ones, just needed to try something new. Feedback is appreciated, I hope you like it.


	2. Chapter One

_**Chapter One:**_

Two days later Leon found himself walking down a familiar street, heading towards the same dark alley that he had been before. It was 2am and the streets were almost bare, a fact of which Leon was thankful; he wasn't too fond of crowds or brushing shoulders with strangers.

Turning the corner Leon noticed that his client was already lounging on the top of a filthy dumpster. He perked up when he heard the noise, jumping down from his spot to greet Leon as he walked up to the man.

Wanting to get this over and done with quickly so he could go home and sleep, Leon eyed the shorter man in front of him. "Did you bring all of the munny?" he asked.

The shady man snickered quietly at Leon's impatience. He made sure they were totally alone before he made his way back to the dumpster he was previously resting on and carefully lifted the lid. After rummaging around in it an making all sorts of noise, the man all but jumped in to pull out what he was looking for. He set the worn looking duffle bag, with bits of garbage hanging off of it, at Leon's feet.

Before Leon could say or do anything, the shady man cut him off, "it's only half of the munny."

Leon clenched his fists and glared at the smaller man. "We agreed on all of the munny up front."

The shady man flinched away from Leon, he could feel the tension in the air rising. "It's all I could get," the man pleaded. "I'll get the rest of the munny soon. You'll get it when I have the boy. I promise."

Leon considered this for a moment. He could always just take this half of the munny and leave, but he found himself thinking of the boy he was supposed to tail for the next few days. If Leon didn't do the job, the shady man might try something on his own and he's probably crazy enough to end up killing the kid. Leon wasn't exactly man of the year, but he didn't want to have anyone's death on his conscience.

His reputation was also on the line if he took the munny and ran. He built up a good reputation for himself since he ran away from home at the age of fifteen and he wasn't about to let some shady pedophile bring him down. He decided half of the munny was enough for now.

~*~

The sun had been up for a while on that cool spring morning and Sora's alarm clock had gone off, telling him it was time to get up. His arm slid out from underneath the covers and found it's way onto his bedside table to his alarm clock and switched it off. The brunet sat up in his bed, soft silk sheets falling from his small frame, and he opened his big sapphire eyes to greet another day. He sighed as he realized that it was Friday; maybe he if he got all his homework done he'd be allowed to go out over the weekend.

Sora looked over at his bedside table, his eyes falling on the familiar picture that rested there. It was a picture of his family. His father, with wild dark spiky hair and a strong build, had a smile identical to Sora's. On the left, his mother stood, she had a kind face framed with long blond hair. In her arms were her twin baby boys. Sora was in her left arm and a Roxas in her right. The picture was taken a few weeks after Sora and his brother were born.

Sora started longingly at the picture as he did every morning. It was the only photograph he had of his family and it was his most treasured possession. He didn't know much about his family; he was never told how they died or why he was the only one to survive. But he was thankful that he at least knew what his parents and twin looked like before they met their untimely end fifteen years ago.

He sighed, taking one last look at the only thing left of his family before finally getting out of bed. Sora spent as much time as he could spare getting ready for school. He was very grateful that his godfather took him in when the rest of his family died, but he never liked the man. Sora always made sure to avoid his uncle, but not enough to let it get himself into trouble.

There was a knock at his bedroom door and Sora nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound. Sora's head spun in the direction of the door, and he let out a nervous breath. "Yeah?"

"Sora."

Sora flinched at the cold sound of Vincent Valentine's voice. Other than his uncle, the only other person Sora feared was Vincent, his uncle's assistant. Sora wasn't exactly sure what his uncle did that required an assistant such as Vincent, but he knew it couldn't be good.

"Your breakfast is getting cold," the man said from the other side of the door.

Sora picked up his backpack from its spot on his bed and rested it on his shoulder. He made his way over to the door and cautiously pulled it open revealing the tall man standing in the hall. The thing that scared Sora most about Vincent was his eyes. The almost lifeless red eyes gave Sora the feeling that he was part of the undead. When he was little Sora had convinced himself that Vincent was a vampire, but his theory was proved wrong when he got older and began to notice subtle hints that the man actually aged.

Vincent's blank expression never changed as Sora appeared; he merely stared down at the boy. "Your uncle wishes that you be home by four o'clock this afternoon," he said in a deep voice as emotionless as his features.

Sora held back a sigh and nodded, running a shaky hand through his soft spiky hair, a nervous habit he picked up while growing up with his uncle. The school was exactly a twenty-minute walk from his house. Being home by four meant that he was only able to hang out with his friends for a few minutes after school before having to head home, and that was only if he was willing to risk being late.

Wanting to get away from Vincent as quickly as possible, Sora made his way down the hallway to the staircase. He could feel, rather than hear Vincent's presence behind him as he walked down the stairs. Sora found Vincent's ability to creep silently around the house his most disturbing quality. The only thing Sora even liked about the man was his waist length raven hair, which Vincent usually kept pulled back in a ponytail.

It was a minute later when Sora finally entered the dining room. His uncle was seated at the head of the table eating breakfast and flipping through the morning's newspaper. He lifted his head to send a fierce glare in his nephew's direction, "You're late."

Sora tried not to cringe at the anger hidden in Seifer Almasy's voice. His uncle was some sort of businessman; he was a very wealthy man. Sora was sure that Seifer also had connections with the mob. He figured that the diagonal scar across the bridge of Seifer's nose was the result of a gang fight a few years ago.

Seifer's cool blue eyes started at Sora for a moment longer before he went back to reading his newspaper. "Hurry up and eat," he said, not bothering to look up again. "Then get your ass to school."

Sora said nothing and quietly took his seat at the table where his breakfast was waiting for him and set his backpack on the floor beside him. The cook made pancakes and bacon for him this morning, which Sora ate quickly.

When he was done eating, he chanced a glance at his uncle. He had already annoyed Seifer once this morning by being late, and asking to go out tomorrow might push him over the edge. But Sora was barely allowed to step off his uncle's property for anything other than school and his friend was having a party and he really wanted to go. He spent another moment in silence debating whether or not he was going to ask. Finally making up his mind, Sora turned to his uncle. "Seifer?"

The blond man's eyes moved to land on Sora, but other than that, he didn't move. Sora took this as a sign to keep going. "Um," he continued, "I was just wondering – that is, if it's alright with you, if I could go to my friend's birthday party tomorrow."

Silence then filled the room and Seifer continued to stare at him.

"Please?" Sora added.

"What friend?" Seifer asked.

"Zell Dincht." Sora was used to Seifer asking all kinds of questions during the rare occasions when he asked to go out, so he just answered as politely as possible and prepared to answer many more.

"When is it?"

"Early tomorrow afternoon till midnight. But I'd be home by nine," Sora replied, knowing exactly what his uncle liked to hear. To Sora, being allowed out of the house for an hour was better than not being let out at all, and he wasn't willing to push his luck by saying any time later than nine.

"Where is this party going to be held?" Seifer asked, continuing with his interrogation.

"Zell only lives a ten minute walk on the other side of the school."

"Who else has been invited?"

Sora paused a moment, figuring out the best way to answer. "Just a few friends from school have been invited."

"Is there going to be an adult there?"

"Both of Zell's parents will be there the entire time," Sora said, not completely sure if he was telling a lie or not.

Seifer stopped his questions for a moment. He looked as if he was considering it for a second and Sora was hopeful. "I'll think about it," he finally said.

Sora smiled, and his spirits lifted a little. It was a good sign that Seifer didn't deny his request right away. He might even have a minuscule chance at going, as long as he doesn't make any mistakes between now and then.

"You better not be late for school. And don't screw around after school, come straight home."

Grabbing his school things, he excused himself from the table and headed for the front door. Once he was outside, he hurried across the walkway to the tall gate at the edge of his uncle's property. The guard by the gate saw Sora coming and had the mechanized gate opened by the time Sora reached it. He took a step off of Seifer's property and he felt himself relax a little. For about the next seven hours he was temporarily free from his uncle's control and it felt amazing.

~*~

It was easy enough for Leon to find out that it was seventeen-year-old Sora Almasy who he needed to kidnap. Leon was surprised to learn that the kid was living with his uncle instead of his parents, but he hadn't done enough research yet as to find out the reason why.

Leon was taking a walk down Sora's street early Friday morning in hopes of finding Sora on his way to school. Luckily, just as Leon was coming up to Sora's house, he heard the gate open and the kid stepped out onto the sidewalk.

He tailed Sora, taking a mental note of the kid's route to school. Leon figured that it'd be suspicious if he hung out around the school all day so he went home, planning to return when school was over for the day. To avoid being seen by other students, he waited a safe distance down the road from the school along Sora's path home. He was keeping an eye out for the kid because there was a chance that Sora wasn't going to go straight home after school; after all it was Friday afternoon and teenagers have better things to do than homework.

~*~

As soon as the bell rang, Sora hurried to his locker at the end of his last class. By the time he reached it, there was already someone waiting for him there.

The petite girl perked up when she saw him coming. She flashed him a devilish grin and pounced on him as he walked closer. "Sora!" she giggled, rubbing her cheek affectionately against his. "Are you going to come to Zell's party tomorrow?"

Sora giggled along with her and politely freed himself from her grasp. "Selphie," he said, beginning to open his locker. "Maybe," was all he offered as a reply.

Selphie crossed her arms and pouted at her friend. "What do you mean 'maybe'?" she asked. "Oh Sora, you did ask your uncle if you could go, didn't you?"

Sora paused from filing his textbooks for a second to look Selphie. "Of course I did. I asked him this morning."

Selphie watched quietly as Sora finished packing up all his things. "Do you think he'll actually let you go?" she asked as they started heading to the main entrance of the building.

It was a minute before Sora responded. "I'm not sure," he said. "There are plenty of things that can go wrong between now and the party for Seifer to get mad at me for. He didn't say no right away, so that's good but I don't know. He could always change his mind."

"Oh, that mean old man!" Selphie almost yelled and Sora had to smile at the rare expression of anger on the normally carefree girl's face. "Why does he have to have so much control over you?" she continued ranting. "I mean, who does he think he is, not letting you have any fun?"

"Selphie," Sora said in a warning tone.

"What? Are you going to defend him now?"

Sora slowed his pace and stared at the ground. His grip tightened on the straps of his backpack. "He took me in, Selphie," he said in a quiet voice. "He didn't have to, but he did. He could have just left me to some foster family or something."

"Well, I wish he did," Selphie said.

"Selphie!"

"Then maybe you'd be allowed to have fun and be a normal teenager," she explained. "And you'd have a new family that would actually love you."

"I don't want a new family!" Sora yelled, holding back tears. "I want my family back. My mom, my dad and my brother! I want them." Sora stopped for a moment in attempt to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and continued with what he hoped was a happier tone. "Besides, if I was put in a foster home, I never would have met you or Zell or any one else."

Selphie felt guilty about bringing up Sora's past. It was really none of her business and now she had upset her friend. "Oh, I'm sorry Sora," she said and put her arms around him in a comforting hug. "I'm glad you're my friend too."

Sora smiled and forgave her. He raised his hand to try to give her a small pat on her head, but she quickly swatted him away. They both laughed and continued their walk in silence to leave the school.

When they got outside, Selphie looked at her watch. "Oh my," she commented. "It's already quarter to four. I need to go home to take my dog for a walk."

Sora froze at her words. They had spent longer talking than he had thought and if he didn't hurry up, he was going to be late; he had only fifteen minutes to get home or he'd be in big trouble. "See you later Selphie," he said, not bothering to wait for a response, he started walking quickly across the school's grass and made his way across the street when there weren't any cars coming.

Sora was too busy staring at his watch to be bothered to pay attention to where he was going and he was going so fast that he walked right into the man in front of him. The older man was much stronger than Sora so he just bounced off the man and landed on his ass. It took Sora a few seconds to realize what had happened and by then the man had already offered his hand to help Sora up.

When Sora was on his feet again, he took a moment to look at the man he just walked into. He was a very attractive young man with shoulder length brown hair and Sora guess that he couldn't be more than five years older than himself. Sora also got a weird feeling when he looked into the man's hard grey eyes. It was almost as if there was something familiar about this man and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. But he didn't exactly have time to stand around to figure it out; he needed to get home fast.

Muttering a quick apology, Sora brushed past the mysterious stranger and continued on his way home. By the time he reached the gate, it was already two minutes after four o'clock and Sora was cursing under his breath. First he let Selphie distract him after school and then he literally ran into a guy on the sidewalk; it was just his luck that he was late, but he still dared to hope that he would be able to go to the party tomorrow.

Sora waited impatiently for the gate to be opened and as soon at it was moving he slipped thought the small gap and raced to the front door. He opened the door and closed it behind him as quietly as he could manage; maybe if no one noticed he was home, he could argue that he had been home on time.

"You're late."

Sora let out a startled gasp and he spun around to see Vincent in the hallway waiting for him. He felt all hope leave him in that moment and it was replaced with fear and worry. He knew that Seifer wasn't going to be in a good mood now and he wasn't sure how his uncle was going to punish him now for being late.

"You're uncle is in his office," Vincent continued in the same emotionless tone he always used. "He's waiting for you."

Sora only nodded and slowly trudged toward Seifer's office. He paused at the door to take a deep breath before going in. His uncle was sitting at his desk when Sora stepped inside the big office. Seifer stopped typing at his laptop and closed the small computer when he noticed Sora.

"Come in, boy" Seifer said, getting up from his desk and moving in front to lean back against it. "Don't just stand at the door like an idiot."

Sora took small cautious steps into the office. He stopped when he was within arms reach of the two chairs that sat in front of Seifer's big oak desk.

Seifer crossed his arms looking down his nose at Sora. "Take a seat," he commanded.

"Actually, I prefer to stand," Sora replied without thinking. He realized it was a mistake as soon as the words left his lips and he wished he could take them back.

Anger flashed across Seifer's face at Sora's disobedience. "I said sit down!" he yelled and Sora was sure that his voice could have been hear from every corner of the large house.

The brunet hesitated for a second. He wasn't sure he wanted to be that close to Seifer when he was angry, but the consequences of not complying would be worse. Sora slowly moved the last few steps to the chair and he sunk down in it. He busied himself with staring at the hardwood flooring, wanting to look anywhere but at his uncle; he knew he was in big trouble this time.

"I specifically told you to be home by four," Seifer said in a somewhat calmer tone, but still fuming with anger. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Sora's eyes moved up to Seifer. He didn't want to say anything; he was scared at what trouble his mouth could get him into on top of the trouble he was already in. But his uncle had asked him a question and it would be stupid of him not to answer.

"I'm sorry. I was –" Sora began but the back of Seifer's hand making contact with his mouth had cut him off. Regardless of whether or not Sora could see the abuse coming, it never failed to shock him each time he was struck. The sting of the aftermath and the pain of his split and bleeding lip made his eyes water, but he sucked it up and tried not to cry; it would only make Seifer angrier.

"Don't make up excuses for yourself!" Seifer bellowed. "And you can forget about going to your little party tomorrow. In fact, you can forget about leaving the house for anything recreational for the next three months."

Sora sat in silence not wanting to object or say anything to give Seifer another reason to smack him around some more.

Seifer continued to glare down at his nephew for a minute. Finally he walked back around his desk and sat down in the chair. He pulled opened his laptop and waited for it to come back to life and he started typing again as soon as he was able to. "You're excused," he said, glancing at Sora then back to what he was doing. "Get out of my sight."

Sora stood up, surprised at how much his body was shaking. He had gotten as far as the door, when Seifer started talking again.

"And Sora," the cruel man was almost laughing as he spoke, "don't bother coming down for dinner tonight. You won't be eating."

Sora had almost forgotten how cruel his uncle could be. What kind of a man would let a teenager in his care go hungry? Apparently Seifer was exactly the type of man who could do it. Sora silently left the room, heading for the stairs. As soon as he was out of earshot from the office, he burst into a run, sprinting down the hall and racing up the stairs to his bedroom.

He slammed the door behind him and flung himself on top of his bed. Sora reached behind him for the picture of him family and hugged it close to his chest when his fingers gripped the side of the worn frame. Lying on his bed, curled up in a ball with the small comfort of his family, he let the tears flow.


	3. Chapter Two

_**Chapter Two:**_

Finally making it home Sunday night, Leon was slightly disappointed. He had staked out Sora's house all weekend, but the teenager had not even step foot outside the house. Not once had he even got a glimpse of the kid through any of the house windows. To Leon, this wasn't normal teenager behavior, but then again, his definition of normal probably wasn't correct. After all, he was getting paid to kidnap Sora and then hand him over to a pervert.

Leon had been hoping for some action, maybe follow the kid to a club or watch the kid do something interesting at least. But he only ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. Leon was frustrated and he was beginning to think taking on this job was a huge waste of time.

The only good thing about his boring weekend watching Sora's house was the fact that he almost figured out how to get past the guards and security system. All he needed now was to figure out which room was the kid's bedroom and he was almost ready. Maybe a few more days of stalking, to make sure that Sora would really never leave the house except to go to school.

So early Monday morning, he set out again to watch Sora from afar. He had to be a little more careful now that teenager had already bumped into him once (Leon was mentally kicking himself at the memory of letting his guard down). Leon was sure that if Sora saw him around more that the kid would get suspicious. At least it would make things a little more interesting for Leon, keep him on his toes, after the extremely dull weekend he had experienced.

Leon planned to wait a little ways down one of the streets Sora usually passed by on his way to school. Once Sora showed up, he continued to follow the boy at a safe distance behind him. Leon took a mental note of how Sora seemed to have lost the bounce in his step. He wondered if something had happened to Sora over the weekend that caused the dramatic change in his attitude, but it was unlikely because as far as Leon could tell, _nothing_ had happened.

Once again, Leon took off as soon as the boy entered the building and Sora had disappeared from his sight. Hours later, after the students had been freed from school for the day, Leon stood inside a local magazine shop on Sora's route. Pretending to be browsing the selection, he kept a watchful eye out for when the small teenager walked by.

It didn't take long, as Leon predicted, for Sora to show up on the sidewalk just outside the store and he took the opportunity to actually look at the kid for the first time since he took the job; dread and worry were only two of the emotions that Leon noticed that were displayed on Sora's soft features. Leon studied a much as he could in the short time from the way Sora's brow was furrowed, as if the boy was in deep thought, to the way his bottom lip stuck out slightly in a small pout making the cut and bruise decorating his lip more noticeable.

Wait, when did he get that? Leon was about to do a double take, but it was too late; Sora had already passed the window and was free from his examination. Leon thought back to a few days ago when he had helped Sora get back on his feet during their brief encounter. He couldn't be positive, but he was sure that the boy hadn't been injured then. And Leon hadn't been close enough to tell if the boy had already been sporting the split lip this morning.

Leon concluded that it hadn't happened at school, judging by the way the wound looked like it was already a few days old. Now the question remained, was someone abusing the poor kid or was he just really that clumsy that he could have tripped and cut his lip on the corner of something?

The man had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't realized that Sora was continuously walking away from him. He breathed out a quiet curse, before leaving the building to pick up Sora's trail.

Luckily the small burnet hadn't gone too far ahead of Leon; it seems the kid was slowing his pace, as he trudged closer in the direction of his home. When Sora finally reached the gate to his uncle's house, Leon noticed the teen hesitated before stepping onto the property, making his way inside the big building.

~*~

Over the next few day's Leon had begun to notice more subtle injuries on Sora; finger shaped bruises on his arm and a slight limp in his step were the only ones Leon could see. He was sure that boy had more bruises or other marks on his body that were the result of Sora being smacked around.

Finally finding out where Sora's bedroom was in the house, Leon had been taking extra care to figure out the last minute details of his plan on stealing the boy; he was almost ready. Leon now only needed to wait for a stormy night so he would be able to hide in the cover of rain and thunder.

It was another two days before the forecasts had called for a thunderstorm, and Leon was anxious to go in and grab the kid. He had just left his apartment building when it had begun to rain and his grip tightened over the small bag of supplies he was carrying as he crossed the street. It was still early in the evening, which meant Leon had to dodge cars and avoid drawing attention to himself as he took the familiar route to Sora's house which was located just outside of downtown Traverse Town.

Hiding in plain sight outside the kid's house, Leon waited patiently for the thunderstorm to roll in. Dressed in a pair of loose black jeans and matching hoodie, he was already soaked from the unusually warm rain. It didn't matter to him that he was soaking wet, over the past few days he had somehow developed a soft spot for the kid he has been following around. Leon was more concerned about taking Sora away from his own personal hell. But he would just be taking Sora out of the frying pan only to place the boy gently into the fire.

At least he had finally figured out that Sora's problem was at home. Leon didn't know if it was the uncle or someone else in that big house that was hurting the kid, but he wanted it to stop. If he could at least stop Sora's torture for a few days before handing the kid over to his shady client, then Leon wouldn't feel as guilty.

The sound of thunder roaring in the sky pulled Leon from his thoughts. He glanced up at the sky before turning his attention to Sora's bedroom window.

~*~

The door to Sora's bedroom suddenly swung opened making the teen jump at the noise. In his spot at his desk, Sora turned in his chair to gaze up at the tall man leaning against his doorframe.

Seifer's cold eyes swept over Sora's body before he spoke. "It's past ten o'clock," he said in an uncaring tone. The sound of his voice sent shivers down Sora's spine. "What are you still doing up?"

Sora turned back to the binder and textbook lying opened on his desk. He picked up his forgotten pen and looked over his shoulder to his uncle. "I haven't finished my homework yet," he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

Seifer made a low growling noise in the back of his throat and Sora knew his uncle wasn't happy. "Hurry and finish up then," Seifer ordered. "I want you to actually be on time for school tomorrow."

"Yes sir," was Sora's soft reply. When he heard the rustling of clothing and his bedroom door close, he turned his attention back to his writing. If only his uncle knew what Sora was actually up to, he'd probably have the small teen completely locked up.

Sora had brought the picture of his family to his desk while he continued writing his suicide note. The note was just a last minute thought of getting his hatred for his uncle down on paper; Sora didn't think that it would make any difference Seifer. He couldn't bring himself to cry anymore, not when he was about to join his family.

Leaving the piece of paper where he wrote it, he got up from his desk and took his family to turn off his bedroom light. Sora then made his way to his bed where he had hidden a razor underneath his pillow. He set his picture down gently down on his bedside table and pulled out the metal blade from its hiding space. Sora sighed, taking one last look at his family before he pulled the sharp object across his wrist.

~*~

_**A**_**_N:_** Er, kinda short chapter, but it had to be done this way. Hope it's not too disappointing. Feel free to kick my ass for the cliff-hanger ending. I know I'm evil but I'll try to get the next chapter done as soon as I can.


	4. Chapter Three

_**Chapter Three:**_

Leon pushed himself up a little higher, his fingers finally grazing the second story windowsill, its bricks slick with rainwater. Pulling the screwdriver out of the back pocket of his jeans, he managed to quietly pry open the window. He learned earlier that the second story windows weren't equipped with alarms, a fact Leon was thankful of. Without making a sound he climbed inside, dripping water everywhere. He set down the rope he had been carrying with him and quickly set up way to get down when he had what he came for.

Trying carefully not to disturb his surroundings, Leon crept slowly forward in the dark. A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a brief second before letting the shadows take over once again. It was enough for Leon to confidently make his way over to the motionless form lying face up on the bed.

Another burst of lightning revealed where Sora's hands rested palm up on the bed and Leon's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror. Deep cuts decorated the delicate flesh of Sora's small wrists. The boy looked like he was barely breathing and Leon couldn't be sure how long Sora had been left like that.

"Shit," Leon gasped louder than he had intended. Unsure of what else to do, he quietly rushed over to Sora's dresser, pulling out some of the kid's clean clothes. He took what looked like a blue t-shirt and wrapped it tightly but carefully around one of Sora's wrists, doing the same to the other limb.

It looked like Sora had barely noticed that Leon was even moving him. The boy only made the slightest moan or his muscles would sometimes twitch at Leon's touches. Leon cursed under his breath again as he took another article of the teen's clothing and this time wrapped both of Sora's bandaged wrists together. He crouched down beside the somewhat unconscious teen and pulled Sora onto one of his shoulders.

Standing up with the added weight was not difficult for Leon; Sora was a skinny kid, he probably didn't weigh a whole hell of a lot. Walking over to the window, Leon checked to make sure there were no security guards in sight before he took one last look at the blood stained bed in the room that he was about to leave behind. With more lightening, Leon noticed something he hadn't been paying attention to before; laying in a puddle of crimson fluid on the bed was a picture frame. On a whim, Leon walked back over to the bed and stuffed the frame into the front pocket of his hoodie.

Using one hand to steady the teen on his shoulder, he carefully climbed out the window and used his other hand to lower the two of them to the ground. Leon made it to the earth with relatively no problems. His feet made soft squishing noises in the lush grass as he wandered to the other side of the property, where another rope waited for him.

This time he had set up a pulley onto on of the branches of the big oak tree that hung over the side of the brick wall that stretched around the perimeter of the Almasy estate. Leon quickly tied the small harness around Sora and pulled down on the other end of the rope that forced the teen up into the air. After Leon had set Sora gently down on the other side of the wall, he climbed the wall the same way he had been able to scale the side of Sora's house. Once at the top of the wall, he leaped down, careful to avoid the unconscious boy on the ground below him.

_Something tells me I got more than I bargained for_, Leon thought as he took the harness off Sora and pulled him into his arms, this time bridal style. To anyone watching now, it would only look like Leon was carrying a passed out friend to his car, a car that he rented using a fake name and had false plates on it just to cover his tracks.

~*~

It had been easy for Leon to bring Sora up to his home; he used the fire escape and climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, right outside his tiny apartment's bedroom window. He had left it unlocked so he slipped in without a hitch.

Leon laid the boy gently on his bed before he dashed into his bathroom to grab the tiny first aid kit he kept in there for emergencies. Sitting on the bed beside Sora with the small box in his lap, Leon sighed. What was supposed to be a simple grab and go mission had suddenly turned into Leon playing nurse.

He quickly pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind and opened the lid of the first aid kit. Leon took out what he needed and slowly worked on unwrapping the cloth from Sora's wrists. He was surprised at how relieved he had been to find that Sora's bleeding had slowed a lot but Leon knew the teen had lost too much blood and if he didn't get help, Sora wouldn't last through the night. He disinfected and rewrapped the wounds in bandages best he could.

Leon finally took a second to stare at the boy he had just kidnapped. Sora had an almost peaceful look to him. Instinctively he reached up to brush away the bangs from Sora's face, but caught himself when his fingers were hovering just inches from the soft skin of the teen's forehead.

Letting out a quiet growl, Leon pulled himself away and stood up. He paced a few times across the small room before he stopped and started down at the unconscious boy in his bed.

"I need a real nurse," he said, thinking out loud. Moving a shaking hand through his still dripping wet hair, his gaze moved from Sora over to his nightstand where his silver cell phone sat. With one more worried glance at Sora, he grabbed his phone from where he had left it. "I don't have any other choice," he breathed restlessly and with a quick flip of his thumb, the phone was opened and he was already working on dialling the numbers.

He only had to wait two short rings before someone picked up on the other end. "Hello?" It was a woman's voice, surprisingly awake for what hour of the night it was.

It was a second before Leon decided it was necessary for him to answer; he closed his eyes and spoke clearly into the phone's receiver. "I need a favour."

Only the background noise of beeping and people moving around could be heard for a moment. "Squall?" The woman finally asked in a surprised tone. "Is that you?"

"I need you to get me blood and an IV," Leon replied.

"B-blood?" The woman now sounded frantic. "Squall, are you ok? Are you hurt? What happened? Did you call the pol –"

"Kairi," Leon interrupted the woman's ramblings. "It's not for me, it's for …" he trailed off, glancing back at Sora. "The less you know, the better. Can you get it for me?"

"Squall, I can't just _take_ those things from the hospital."

Leon watched as Sora's chest barely rose and fell with each shallow breath the teen took. "Then he'll die," he said more to himself than to Kairi.

He heard a loud sigh from the other end. "Are you sure?"

"He had already lost a lot of blood when I … found him," Leon replied.

"I – I'll see what I can do; I'm just getting off work now," she said before hanging up the phone.

~*~

Thirty minutes later, Leon opened the door to his apartment to find a very annoyed looking red head on the other side. Not waiting to be invited in, she pushed her way inside. "Do you have any idea what I had to do to get this stuff?" she huffed. "You do not want to know," she continued, obviously suppressing a cringe. "Where is he?"

"Bedroom," Leon replied, pointing to the room off to the left. He followed behind her into his bedroom. Leon watched as she placed the bag she was carrying on the end of the bed and dumped the rest of her things unceremoniously onto the floor. Kairi was too busy fumbling with setting up the equipment she had brought, and only when she was ready to put the IV in Sora's arm, did she actually get the chance to look at him.

"My god, Squall!" She shrieked, almost dropping the needle she was holding. "He's just a kid!"

"Seventeen," Leon confirmed.

She whipped around to attack Leon with a stern, almost mother-like glare through stray pieces of her red bangs. Leon uncomfortably shifted his gaze from Kairi to Sora. The woman was able to pick up on the subtle change in Leon expression and she sighed, getting back to work. She had everything set up in less than five minutes.

"There," Kairi said, standing back to admire her handiwork in the make-shift hospital room for a second before she leaned in and placed two fingers to Sora's neck to check the teen's pulse. "His heart is weak, but steady."

"Will he survive?" Leon asked from his position leaning against the wall by the door. He ran his hand through his hair again before crossing his arms.

"With any luck he'll be awake in a few days," she replied. "There's nothing more we can do besides getting him to a hospital."

"That's out of the question," Leon snapped right away.

"Alright, alright." Kairi said gathering all of her medical things up. With her bags in hand, she made her way over to stand beside Leon, looking back at Sora. "His bandages need to be changed three times a day for a few days. And keep disinfecting the wounds. I want you to call me as soon as you think it gets infected. Also make sure he doesn't get tangled in the cords or gets a kink in either of them."

"Right," Leon agreed.

"Squall," she said turning to him face him this time. "You did the right thing in calling me," she continued. "It's just a waiting game now."

After a few minutes of silence, Kairi gave up thinking she was going to get a reply out of Leon, so she made her way to the door; it had been a long day and she was anxious to get home and forget this ever happened. When she put her hand on the door she heard Leon call her name and she turned back to see him standing in the doorway; he looked exhausted.

"Yeah?" Kairi asked. Her expression had softened at the worried look in her half-brother's eyes.

"Thank you."

Kairi smiled and nodded as she turned the doorknob and stepped out of Leon's small apartment, closing the door behind her.

~*~

_It's dark. Too dark._

_Am I dead?_

_The darkness … I must be in hell._

_It'll be heaven compared to the world I was living in before._

Sora eyes burned when a sudden bright yellow light overpowered all his other senses. He instinctively shied away from the brightness, but it was too much. A cold, damp sensation spread from his forehead, down his cheeks and across his chest. Sora couldn't help but let out a small moan from the feeling; it was such a contrast to how hot he felt that the feeling was almost overwhelmingly delicious.

The pain in his eyes faded and he dared to open them, to take in the surroundings of his new world. Staring straight ahead, he found himself looking at a plain white wall. Or was it a ceiling? Sora couldn't be sure which way was up. It was strange to discover the new world looked too much like the old one.

The cold sensation materialized on his chest again, this time working its way up to his forehead. Sora caught a glimpse of a human looking hand and a black washcloth.

Or maybe he hadn't left the old world after all …

With this realization came panic; Sora tried to move, to get up, to defend himself, but he only managed to flail an arm weakly into the air before he felt to exhausted to think. Slowly Sora slipped back into the realm of unconsciousness.

~*~

_Darkness again._

_What's going on?_

This time Sora felt more than just a cold sensation; there was a dull throbbing in his wrists. _That's right,_ Sora thought. _I committed suicide or tried to at least._

"You weren't successful," it was a man's voice. Cold but soothing, the voice sounded annoyed with a hint of another emotion Sora couldn't quite identify.

Sora opened his eyes, this time he looked around. He found the person the voice belonged to; a man, a stranger but some how he seemed oddly familiar, was sitting beside him. The man was responsible for the cold sensation. Sora watched as the man dabbed the washcloth in a bowl on the table before it was placed gently against his skin. Sora's eyes fluttered closed as the chilly feeling moved across his chest to wrap around his neck before disappearing.

It continued like that for several minutes. Sora just taking in his surroundings and every few seconds he'd get distracted by the man trying to bring down his fever. Every once in a while Sora let out another soft moan, but it didn't seem to bother either of them. Sora felt oddly relaxed, and at peace in this new place. At that moment he didn't care if he was in heaven or hell; all he knew was that he liked it.

He found himself staring at the man now. At the brow furrowed in determination, the stormy grey colour of his eyes, the way the diagonal scar made the man more attractive rather than ugly. Sora occupied himself by observing the way the strands of the stranger's almost shaggy brown hair swayed and framed his with each small movement.

"Angel," Sora whispered as the man pulled the washcloth down his chest. The cold feeling paused for a moment over his abdomen before it was removed completely.

"What?"

There was another attempt at getting the fever under control before Sora spoke again. "Feels good."

"You have a bad fever," the man said. "You've been just started on antibiotics, so I have to try to bring your fever down manually until the medicine starts working."

"I'm alive?" Sora blinked. "Where am I?"

"My house." That was all the other offered as a reply. A moment passed before he started speaking again. "What do you remember? Tell me who hurt you."

That confused Sora. "I did this to myself," he breathed out.

The stranger leaned in closer to Sora and he could smell the man's very appealing scent with the close proximity. "I'm talking about this," he said and brought up his hand to cup Sora's cheek. He could feel the stranger's rough thumb rub gently over the now almost healed cut marring his bottom lip.

The combination of slight pain and gazing up into the attractive man's face sparked a memory in Sora. Realization dawned on him and his features reflected his new discovery. "I ran into you," he said.

"Yes, I was tailing you," the man admitted. "But how did you get this cut?"

Sora felt a little more pressure being added to his lip, like it was being split all over again. He flinched away from the pain and turned his head away. "Hurts."

At once the man was back into his original sitting position and the cold sensation resumed. Sora heard something that sounded like an apology, before his eyes became to heavy for him to keep opened and he fell asleep.

~*~

"You didn't bring the boy."

Leon found himself staring unsympathetically at his client. Once again he had been called to have a meeting in the now too familiar alley. "There's been a slight complication," he said.

"You're backing out?" The shady man almost hissed at Leon.

"No," Leon replied, his patience was rapidly running thin. "It'll be a few more days. You'll have him by the end of the week."

An unsettling laugher filled cool night air. "Good, good," the shady man said. "Then I will have a little bit more time to come up with the munny."

"Are you saying you don't have it?" Leon asked icily.

"There's been a slight complication," the man said, throwing Leon's words back at him. "I don't have it all. Not yet. But you'll have it all when I have the boy."

Leon said nothing as he made his way out of the eerily lit alley. Already he was beginning to dread giving up Sora to his creepy client.

~*~

_**A**_**_N:_** Yay, no one tried to kill me over the previous chapter's really bad (or was it really good?) cliff-hanger ending. I can relax now that this chapter is up.

Also, I apologize if people recieved the 'Oh look, I updated' e-mail twice. That was my bad. I got too excited and uploaded the chapter and then I realized I left out some stuff that I needed to have happen. Aaand then I spent almost three hours writting what I forgot. So sorry, my loves.


	5. Chapter Four

_**Chapter Four:**_

It was shortly after noon two days later when Sora finally woke up again, this time he was not disoriented and weak from blood loss. He lay in bed, thinking of the bizarre dream he had last night. Sora stretched out his legs, but to his surprise, his movement was severely restricted. He sat up letting the unfamiliar sheets fall from his body and pool at his hips. Upon trying to remove the rest of the sheets, Sora noted with shock that on both of his hands, his fingers were wrapped up, making it impossible for him to move them.

"What the hell?" he gasped, examining his hands further. They appeared to be covered in a layer of packing tape over the cloth that was tied around all his fingers. He also noticed the bandages around his wrists and the IV stuck on the inside of his elbow.

It was then that he heard noises coming from another room before a man appeared in the doorway, the man from his dream. After a moment of shock, Sora let out a curse under his breath. _It wasn't a dream,_ he realized in horror.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Sora demanded louder this time, his panic rising. "Where am I?"

The man simply lifted up the bowl of soup he was holding a little higher into the air and walked slowly into the room. "I thought you'd be hungry," he said ignoring Sora's questions. "You haven't actually eaten anything in a few days."

"I'm not eating that," Sora replied automatically in disgust. "You could be trying to poison me or something."

The man only smirked and sat down on the bed beside him. "Poison you?" he repeated and Sora could hear the subtle hint of amusement in the stranger's voice.

Sora tried to put as much space between them as possible, but since he was tied up, it was difficult for him to move much. His legs were bond together and tied securely to what Sora assumed to be the footboard of the bed. He realized that his hands were constricted so that he wasn't able to untie his feet and make an escape.

Upon seeing Sora shift uncomfortably his captor continued in a more serious tone. "If I was going to kill you, I would not have saved your life," he said evenly gesturing to Sora's wrists.

"What do you want with me then?" Sora asked, still not convinced that he could trust the stranger, but he was also sure that he didn't have much of a choice.

The man only stirred the warm liquid in the bowl he held and lifted the spoon up to Sora's mouth. "Eat," he said, "I have no intention of hurting you."

Sora's eyes narrowed at the man's words. If he wasn't going to hurt Sora, what the hell was he doing there? Sora looked at the spoon then his attention was back on the stranger. "What's your name?"

"Squall," he replied. Sora watched as Squall sighed and his expression changed to an annoyed one before slipping back to unreadable as the man continued speaking. "Now will you eat?"

Sora didn't say anything. After a moment of studying Squall, he accepted the spoonful of chicken soup.

~*~

"_I have no intention of hurting you."_

_Right_, Squall thought, remembering what he had said twenty minutes ago. _Sure,_ _I won't hurt the kid, but I'll sell him to someone who certainly will._ After feeding his hostage, he changed and cleaned Sora's injured wrists and removed the IV from his arm, putting the needle and leftover medicine in a safe place to give to Kairi to be properly disposed of. The whole time he was spoon-feeding Sora, he was mentally kicking himself for accidentally giving the kid his real name as opposed to his street name. Squall hadn't been thinking and when Sora asked, the question threw him off and it just slipped out.

_There's no point in worrying about it now_, he reasoned with himself as he set the empty bowl and spoon into the sink to be washed later. He still had three days until he had to give Sora up, he'd worry later.

Squall left Sora alone in his bedroom until supper rolled around. With a tray of food in hand, he entered the plain room and once again joined Sora on the bed. The teen was resting on his side and when Squall entered, Sora sat up as much as he could. From hours of not being able to do much besides lounge on Squall's bed, Sora's hair now resembled a bird's nest; his brown hair tangled and messy. It made the teen look younger according to Squall.

"It's boring here," Sora said, stretching his arms up into the air and Squall's eyes automatically lowered to the section of abdomen that was revealed. Sora didn't seem to notice and he flopped his hands down on his lap as he continued quickly. "Not that I really mind, I mean, Seifer never let me do anything."

Squall had been about to pick up on of the sandwiches he had made to feed Sora but he paused to study Sora for a second instead. He figured that Sora was only talking now to fill up the silence. "Seifer," he pressed further, already knowing the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Your uncle?"

Once again Sora seemed oblivious. "Yeah," he said. "The guy took me in after my parents and brother died. He's the only family I have left." The teen trailed off at the end, looking away. "I miss them."

"Miss your uncle?" Squall asked as he finally held up the sandwich for his prisoner to eat.

Sora took a bite and shook his head. "My family," he explained when he was finished. "I used to have a picture of them. It was the only thing I had left of them." Sora's voice took on a hint of sadness and his face fell as he trailed off again.

"I've seen the picture," Squall said, munching on his own sandwich. "You had it in your hands when I found you. How did they die?"

Sora paused in chewing for a second and he looked at Squall briefly, then quickly turned away again. "I don't know," he replied at last. "Seifer never talked about it."

They continued to eat in silence after that. After they finished their meals, Squall left to get rid of the dirty dishes, placing them in the sink next to the disregarded bowl from lunch. He sighed, turning his attention to the picture of Sora's family that he had set on the counter after washing the blood from the wooden frame two days ago. Squall felt a tinge of guilt wash over him as he studied the family. It bothered him that for some unknown reason he made the effort to bring the picture with him and he was clueless as to why he didn't just give it back to Sora now.

He let out a frustrated breath and let his gaze wander again, his eyes coming to rest on the knife rack he kept on the other side of the kitchen. Squall slowly made his way over to it, lifting his fingers to brush the handle of one of the knives. Making a quick decision, he pulled out the knife and returned to the bedroom with the kitchen utensil gripped loosely in one hand.

Sora had been staring out the window, lost in deep thought. At the sound of his Squall's return Sora seemed to snap out of it and he turned his attention to the approaching man. Squall could feel Sora's eyes study him for a moment before they lowered to the object he had brought back with him. Squall watched as Sora's sapphire eyes widened and he tried to back away as far as he could, struggling against the bindings.

"I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me," Sora squeaked.

Squall paused mid step and looked down at the sharp implement in his hand. "Sorry," he apologized, only now realizing what it must look like to Sora. "I don't own any scissors," he offered weakly.

"What?"

"I'm going to untie you," he clarified, moving closer and climbing onto the bed with his squirming hostage.

"What?" Sora repeated, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Why?"

Squall successfully pulled Sora closer to him and caught one of his struggling arms, much to the teen's horror. Being careful not to disturb the teen's wrists, he was victorious in cutting loose the hand he captured before he answered. "I was going to let you take a shower," he explained. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he added, "Unless of course, you'd rather have a sponge bath."

Sora's cheeks flared up a dark red as he blushed at the implication and he stopped struggling at once. "A sh-shower would be fine," he replied and offered up his other hand to be cut freed.

Squall smirked at the flustered teen. He enjoyed how easily it had been for him to embarrass Sora. Grey eyes took in the adorable pout of the rosy bottom lip Sora unconsciously stuck out at him.

_Cute,_ Squall thought before he could stop himself.

Frowning at himself he paused. His were hands resting on the bindings around Sora' ankles. He made sure to make eye contact with his prisoner as he spoke. "As I stated before, I don't want to hurt you," he said making sure Sora understood the seriousness in his voice. "But if you try anything stupid, I won't hesitate in … restraining you by force if I have to."

Sora nodded in comprehension. "Yes sir," he replied out of habit.

After Sora's legs had been freed, Squall pointed to the small bathroom that was connected to his bedroom. "You've got ten minutes. If you're not out when the time comes, I'll go in and get you," Squall warned. "There's a towel on the sink for you in there."

He watched as Sora cautiously stood up from the bed, testing the strength of his legs, after all, he hadn't used them for a few days. When he was satisfied that they would hold his weight, Sora took small careful steps to the room that Squall directed him to.

"And Sora," Squall said just as the teen was about to close the bathroom door.

Sora paused and curiously stared at Squall from behind the door. He said nothing and simply waited for the man to continue.

"Leave it unlocked," Squall commanded after a moment.

~*~

Sora nodded. He pushed the door shut; his fingers were itching to lock it, but he knew better than to disobey a direct order and he desperately wanted a shower. Though once inside the small bathroom, Sora suddenly became aware of how badly he needed to pee. He wasted no time in making his way to the toilet to relief himself.

Sora felt awkward stripping the borrowed clothes from his body. His cheeks reddened at the thought of Squall changing his clothes; Sora remembered that he didn't bother to change out of his school uniform the night he tried to commit suicide and when he regained consciousness, he was wearing clothes that didn't belong to him.

He pushed the thought out of his mind as he turned on the water to warm up. After a moment of waiting, he climbed into the hot shower and stood under the soothing water. Sora did nothing but enjoyed the feeling of water roll over his body for a minute before he remembered about his time limit and quickly got to work scrubbing and washing himself.

Slick and squeaky clean, Sora turned off the water and stepped out of the shower a few minutes later. He grabbed the towel left for him on the counter hoping he still had enough time left over to dry himself off before Squall came in to get him.

Feeling satisfied that he was dry enough, Sora's actions came to a halt; he realized he had not been given anything clean to wear. Sora briefly considered putting back on the baggy clothes he had been wearing earlier, but decided against it, scrunching his nose at the pile of forgotten dirty fabric at his feet.

Not knowing what else to do, Sora wrapped the now damp towel around his waist, holding it securely in place with one hand. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves before placing his hand on the doorknob and twisting it to cautiously pull the bathroom door opened.

At first he thought Squall was elsewhere in the apartment, but when the door was opened further, Sora quickly spotted the man standing by the window.

"There are clean clothes on the bed," Squall said in an unreadable tone without bothering to turn around.

Sora's eyes shifted to the bed and he left out a loud gasp, almost dropping his towel. The picture frame holding his family sat on top of the pile of clothes. "You brought my family too?" Sora asked, making sure he wasn't just imagining it.

Squall turned around at that moment to study Sora for a second. "Yeah," he replied. He looked back out the window as he continued. "I thought you'd want it back."

Sora felt tears of joy well up in his eyes. He choked back a sob as he made his way to the bed and picked up the photograph, stroking the glass fondly. Sora only put the lay the picture down for a minute while he hastily pulled on the clothes that had been left out for him.

Sora was vaguely aware of Squall shifting around in getting ready to tie him up once again. He felt himself being pushed gently towards the bed and Sora let Squall move his legs closer to the footboard. Only when Squall had finished securing his legs to the bed did Sora hear the older man speak.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

Sora seemed to be brought out of his trance and his eyes shifted to meet Squall's grey ones. Sora lift a hand to his cheek, his finger tips instantly becoming wet as he felt tears staining the skin there. He had barely noticed what was going on but now that Squall had pointed it out, Sora suddenly flushed with embarrassment. He furiously wiped his hands across his eyes, trying to rid his face of the extra moisture.

They sat in silence for a moment and Sora began to squirm under Squall's intense gaze. Sora picked up the picture of his family and placed it carefully on the bedside table before offering his hands to Squall. "You can tie me back up now," he said, a little shocked at his own actions and words.

Squall raised an eyebrow at Sora, but he said nothing as he worked at wrapping his prisoner's hands up, then securing them with tape.

~*~

Another two days had passed and Sora found himself actually happy for once in his life. Sure, he was being held against his will, but Squall had not once done anything to hurt him. Sora had the picture of his family back and he was, for all he knew, miles away from his abusive uncle. What else did he need?

Even worse, he was starting to actually like the man who kidnapped him. And not just in a friendly way, Sora realized that morning in horror. He had developed a _crush_ on Squall! _A crush on the man who saved my life and stole me away from my personal hell_, he rationalized. _Anyone would fall for that kind of knight in shining armour._

Sora accepted another bite of the homemade pancakes that Squall offered him.

_A ridiculously attractive knight in shining armour,_ a little voice in the back of Sora's head added. He sighed loudly, frowning at himself.

The action didn't go unnoticed to Squall. The man stopped cutting off a chuck of pancake and he looked up through his bangs to Sora. "What's wrong?" he asked after a brief moment of analysing the teen's behaviour.

"Nothing," Sora replied quickly. Realizing that Squall would never believe him, he tempted to cover up his mistake. "I just was thinking how I wouldn't mind being able to feed myself," he continued, sighing again. "I kinda feel like a baby."

Squall's intense stare never left Sora's face, but his expression had changed from concerned to contemplative. He seemed to come to a conclusion about whatever he was thinking about and Sora watched as Squall set aside the plates of food and left the bedroom, heading in the direction of the kitchen. He returned a few moments later with the knife in his hand.

"Can I trust you?" Squall whispered, hesitating in the doorway. He looked down at the object as he twirled the sharp metal utensil between his fingers.

Sora's face lit up at the possibility of being given a little bit more freedom. He figured Squall's question was rhetorical, but he decided to chance giving an answer anyways. "Yes," he said. As an after thought, he add, "I've got no where to go."

His answer seemed to please Squall and the man moved to sit back down on the bed with Sora. "Exactly," he said, picking up Sora's right hand carefully by the back of his wrist. "Because you know that if you went to the police, you'd only end up right back where you were with your uncle."

Sora nodded as his hand was freed. It felt weird to be able to move his fingers again, but he was thankful he could. "Yeah," he agreed when his other hand was cut loose. "And he'd probably be really mad at me too." Sora suppressed the shudder at the thought of what might happen if Seifer ever got a hold of him again. "I don't want to think about that."

Sora was surprised that Squall also untied his feet from the bed. It almost felt like he was free; after all, it was more freedom and kindness than Seifer had ever given him. Sora stretched his legs then brought them close to sit cross-legged on the bed. He picked up his plate of half eaten pancakes and set it gently on his lap and continued to eat in silence with Squall.

_If this isn't happiness,_ Sora thought to himself. _I don't know what is._

_~*~_

_**AN:** _Look, I'm updating! And it only took a week. Aren't you proud of me? I'm very excited because everything is happening smoothly in the story. But I do hope that is doesn't look like their relationship is too unrealistically.

To_ Valentined: _I'm going to argue that Kairi acquired the universal donor blood type for Sora. I know I never mentioned it, but we can just pretend that's what happened. It makes more sense that way.

I love all my readers, hope you enjoy this chapter and drop a review to tell me what you thought of it. And sorry if there are lots of grammar mistakes in this chapter. I uploaded it right before I left for work, so you didn't have to wait another 5-6 hours for it.


	6. Chapter Five

_**Chapter Five**_

The following evening Squall and Sora ate dinner together at the tiny kitchen table. Since Squall had allowed Sora to freely wander his apartment, he didn't see the need in continuing to consume meals on his bed.

He followed Sora to the sink and they both set their dirty dishes on the counter. Sora turned on the tap and fished the dish soap out from the cupboard under the sink, while Squall leaned back against the counter with a tea towel in his hand. For a few minutes, the only sound in the kitchen was the swishing of water and a tea towel being rubbed against glass.

Squall was hesitant to break the comfortable silence; he'd give anything not to do what he was supposed to. "Sora?" he said eventually, grabbing the teen's attention.

Sora handed over the last plate for Squall to dry. "Yeah?" he asked, absent-mindedly sticking his hand back into the now dirty water to pull the plug and drain the sink.

"We should go for a walk later tonight," Squall replied in an unreadable tone. He turned his back on Sora, not able to bring himself to look at the teen. He frowned at himself, feeling the guilt overwhelm him.

"A walk?" he heard Sora question.

_He probably thinks I'm rewarding him for not trying to escape,_ Squall thought. _If only he knew how wrong he is._ "Yeah," he replied walking over to the cupboard to put away the plate he had just finished drying. "Some fresh air will do you some good," he offered as a weak explanation as he turned around to face Sora.

"Oh," the teen said. His face suddenly lit up as he continued, "can we go now?"

"No," Squall answered too quickly. _It's not time yet,_ he added in his mind. He still had a few more hours before he had to give Sora away. _Not give,_ he corrected bitterly. _Sell._ Squall avoided Sora's eyes as he tried to come up with a logical explanation. "There are too many people on the streets right now," he said. "It is best if we wait until later. The less people are out, the less likely we will run into any problems."

Sora seemed to accept this; he nodded while drying his hands on a towel hanging off the handle of the stove. They spent the rest of their evening lounging in the living room, watching whatever program Sora had chosen on Squall's small TV. More accurately, Sora had been too absorbed in watching TV to notice Squall's attention had been on him the entire time.

Regretfully, Squall stood from his position sitting on the leather couch next to Sora. He could feel the teen's eyes follow his movement as he bent down to grab the remote control and shut off the TV. "It's time," Squall muttered ushering Sora into his bedroom.

He was thankful that Sora didn't protest when he told the boy he had to be tied up for their little stroll around the block. He dug out one of his hoodies for Sora to wear and when the teen pulled on the article of clothing, Squall felt another stab of guilt. Sora looked up at him with innocent eyes, wearing a sweater that was clearly about three sizes to big for him; his fingers were even hidden in the ends of the sleeves.

_I should just keep him for myself_, Squall thought as he started down at the adorable teen in front of him. _Keep him safe._

_But it's not possible,_ another part of him argued. _I have to give him away._

"Squall?" Sora asked, bringing the man back to reality. "You okay?"

Replacing his guilty stare with a frown, Squall continued to get Sora ready. He took Sora's hands in his own and tied them together inside the pocket of the sweater. "It'll be suspicious if it's obvious that you're tied up," Squall explained when he noticed Sora's confused expression.

"You'll also be wearing this," Squall said picking up a long piece of cloth from where it was placed earlier on the nightstand.

Sora was confused for a second before it sunk in and his excited attitude seemed to take a beating. "A blindfold," he said quietly.

"It is necessary," Squall said answering another of Sora's unasked questions. "I can't risk having you know where I live."

Sora accepted it without another word and let Squall guide him to his front door by the arm. "Wait here for a minute," he told Sora and walked back into his bedroom.

He rummaged around under his bed for a minute before pulling out a suitcase. He quickly unlocked it, staring down at its contents. Squall prayed that he would have to use them, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He lightly brushed his fingers against the revolvers before removing one of the guns from the suitcase. Squall made sure it was loaded with the safety on and tucked it into the waistline at the back of his tight leather pants.

Squall started at the remainder of weapons sitting in the case. He had a feeling that he'd need one, so Squall pulled out a seven inch combat knife which he strapped, along with the sheath, securely to the outside of his right ankle.

"Squall," he heard Sora's slightly panicked voice from the front of his apartment. "Where are you?"

"I'll be the in a second," Squall answered as he locked the suitcase of various weapons and shoved it back under his bed. Within seconds he had returned to where he left Sora and pulled up the hood of the sweater, concealing the blindfold. Grabbing the teenager by the arm, just above the elbow, he opened the door and led Sora out into the hallway.

~*~

Sora felt Squall gently push him into what he assumed was an elevator. A button was pressed and Sora was able to count the chimes to figure out that Squall's apartment had been on the 23rd floor.

Walking was easy inside the building, since the carpeted floor was relatively smooth, but outside was a little bit more of a challenge; the ground was uneven and Sora tripped often. He could tell that Squall was trying to lead him the best that he could, with all the gentle instructions such as "careful" and "step up" he was receiving from the older man.

Since his sight had been temporarily taken away from him, Sora's other senses were somewhat heightened. Being very aware of the hand that was enclosed on his arm, Sora noticed every change in pressure of each of Squall's fingers. The grip tightened almost painfully each time Squall would steer him in a different direction.

It surprised Sora of how much of the sounds of the city he was now picking up on. He heard buzzing from streetlights and the rush of water from sewers below them. He was aware or the sound of their feet hitting the concrete of sidewalks and sometimes of the crunching of gravel from under their shoes.

But then all of a sudden all the crunching stopped and was replaced with a soft squishing noise when Sora's feet came in contact with slightly damn grass. Sora's confusion was interrupted by Squall's cool voice.

"We're here," he said and the hand that was gripping Sora's arm was gone.

Sora heard the rustling of clothing before he felt the hood he was wearing was pushed back. The tips of warm fingers brushed against his cheeks, he couldn't stop the blush that followed, and the blindfold was untied from the back of his head.

Sora stared up into Squall's troubled eyes; their faces were only inches apart, much to Sora's surprise. He took a step back and tried to hide behind his bangs before he turned away. He knew he was unsuccessful in keeping his embarrassment from the other's attention when he heard Squall's voice again.

"Sora?" he asked. "Is something wrong?" After a moment of silence Squall continued with a small explanation. "Your face is all red."

"It's nothing," Sora replied. He turned back to face Squall but his gaze was lowered to the ground and he was slyly squishing a patch of grass with the toe of this shoe. "I'm just a little hot, that's all," he lied.

Sora wasn't sure if Squall believed him or not, but the awkward moment had passed and he watched the older man walk towards a bench on the side of a path that weaved its way through the grass. For the first time Sora actually took a second to take in his new and unfamiliar surroundings. The park they were in was fairly dark, only lit faintly from a street lamps placed around the parameter of the park. Here and there bushes and flower gardens were planted near the paths. The flowers gave off a beautiful but not overpowering fragrance.

"Park Hollow?" Sora asked reading a sign he found as he followed Squall to the bench and sat down close beside him.

"Yeah," Squall replied leaning back and resting his arms on the back of the bench. "Usually fireflies are out at this time of night. I thought you'd like to see them before –" Squall cut himself off and frowned deeply.

Sora's eyes narrowed suspiciously. It wasn't the first time today that Squall had done something odd and Sora had the feeling he was up to something. _But I still don't know him very well,_ he reminded himself. "Before what?" he asked cautiously.

"Nothing," Squall replied, looking away. "Never mind."

Sora was about to protest when a small twinkle of light out of the corner of his eye distracted him. He turned his head away from Squall, his eyes scanning the dark surroundings. Another tiny flicker of green light caught his attention and the beauty of it blew Sora away. Little slowly fireflies rose up from nowhere, their abdomens every so often giving off a soft green glow.

The insects flew lazily in the cool spring night and Sora couldn't help being mesmerized by the beetles; it was one of the prettiest things he'd ever laid his eyes on. Standing up from his spot on the bench, he slowly made his way over to the bugs and soon he was standing in the middle of the small swarm.

He was so fascinated with the little insects that he hadn't noticed that Squall was now standing behind him until the other man spoke.

"Do you like it," he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sora spun on his heals, making himself dizzy from the speed and he almost lost his balance. He took a moment to steady himself before he lifted his head to gaze up at Squall. "I – It's," he began but the words were lost to him. He shook his head slightly in an attempt to compose his thoughts. "Thank you," he finally managed to get out.

~*~

Sora seemed to be really enjoying their little trip to the park that it almost broke Squall's heart to have to blindfold the kid once again. The fact that Sora couldn't shake the smile from his face, made it harder for Squall to do what he had to; he took his time in leading the boy, trying to make the little bit of time they had left to spend together last. He already regretted having to hand the teenager over.

He went over the reasons why he shouldn't let his creepy client have Sora, but once again the reasons why he had to go through with it out weighed the others; he had a job to do and if he screwed it up, he would be throwing his reputation along with his livelihood right out the window.

Sooner than Squall would have liked, they reached the alley. He pulled Sora to a stop and glanced down between the buildings. Like the other times Squall was forced to go there, he found his shady client sitting on top of the dumpster. As far as he could tell, the other hadn't noticed them. He took a quick look down both directions of the street and he was satisfied that no one was around. Squall pushed Sora gently until the boy's back came in contact with the wall so it looked as if he was casually leaning against the bricks.

"Squall," Sora asked, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Are at your apartment yet?"

Squall leaned forward, resting his forehead on the top of Sora's head. "Not yet," he whispered closing his eyes. He couldn't help bringing up his hand to cup Sora's cheek and gently caress the soft skin with his thumb. "Everything's fine," he lied. "Don't worry."

Sora said nothing; if he was worried, it didn't show. He only pressed closer to the hand on his face and his lips parted slightly.

"Stay here and don't move," he continued and he regretfully pulled away from Sora. "I'll be back in a few minutes." When Sora nodded, Squall turned the corner and trudged his way down the alley.

He came to a stop a good distance away from the man. Squall couldn't help the glare that he directed towards his client. He watched as the man jumped down from the dumpster, not daring to speak yet. Squall observed the man's excited yet nervous behaviour and his mind was full of images of the creepy older man violating the innocent teenager that was tied up and blindfolded just out of view. He let a disgusted growl in the other's direction.

"Do you have him," the shady man asked as his slowly inched closer to Squall. "You didn't let him get away, did you?"

"Of course not," Squall snapped. Like ripping off a band-aid, he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. He eyed the filthy dumpster suspiciously. "Where's the rest of the munny?"

"The boy first," the other demanded.

"No, hand over the rest of the munny now or no deal," Squall negotiated.

The shady man backed up a few paces, shrinking closer to the ground. "A-about that," he started, nervously running a hand through the greasy dark brown hair. "I-I can explain."

"Save it," Squall barked. He almost took a sign of relief at the fact that the rest of the munny wasn't there. "The deal is off."

"No! I must have him," he man howled, suddenly lunging at Squall.

Squall quickly dodged, reacting with a kick to the man's back, sending him face-first into a pile of garbage bags and old cardboard boxes. The man moved to get up, but Squall took advantage of the situation and pulled the other up by the bandana tied around his neck and shoved his face against the wall. He grabbed the man's right arm and twisted it painfully behind his back.

"I'll only say this once, Pence," Squall forced out, pulling the revolver out and pressing it to the man's temple with the safety off. "You didn't hold up your end, so the deal's off." It took all his willpower not to just pull the trigger right there. "If you try to come after the boy again, I will end you." Just to make sure he was understood, he pushed harder against the chubby arm in his hand until he heard a strangely satisfying snap of the arm breaking.

Pence let out a cry of pain and when Squall released him, the man whimpered pathetically towards the other end of the alley. Squall's eye's followed Pence until the man was no longer in sight.

He had little time to enjoy his victory before he heard a panicked shout from the end of the alley where he had left Sora.

"Squall," he heard Sora yell. "Squall, help me!"

~*~

**_AN:_** Dun, dun, duuun. So, Shady Guy's secret identity is finally revealed. Let me know what you think!

And as always, thanks for all the reviews. I love you guys.


	7. Chapter Six

**_Chapter Six_**

A wave of worry overwhelmed Squall and his adrenalin soon took over. A million and a half possibilities of what could be happening to Sora flooded his mind and he took off in a swift run towards the sounds of the alarmed teenager.

_If anything happens to him,_ Squall's thoughts trailed off. But he pushed horrible idea out of his head in favour of concentrating on what he needed to do. Squall's heart pounded against his ribcage as he darted through the alley, hair pushed out of his face from his speed and an angry frown wrinkled the scar across his nose. His feet pounded against the pavement and he gripped the revolver tighter in his hand, ready for action.

With the last few strides, Squall made it around the corner. Panting, he stopped dead in his tracks and had the gun trained on a mysterious hooded figure pulling on Sora's right arm. The teen was struggling and desperately crying out for help, but his actions were somewhat useless as he was still restrained and blindfolded.

Even with the bright neon lights of Traverse Town, only the stranger's nose and mouth were visible from under the hood. Squall took a step towards the battling duo, his revolver aimed expertly at the strangers head. "Let him go," he said in a low but deadly growl.

Both bodies froze at the sound of his voice; Sora let out a relieved breath while the other cursed loudly. The stranger seemed to release Sora when he spotted the gun; hands were raised in the air, but he moved quickly so his body was shielding Sora's from Squall's view, almost as if he was trying to protect Sora from the gun.

"It's not what you think," the man said in a soft but panicked voice. He sounded like he couldn't be much older than Sora.

"Step away from him," Squall commanded, ignoring whatever the stranger had to say. He gestured wildly with his gun in the direction he wanted the man to go. "Now."

The stranger held his ground; he wasn't nearly as tall as Squall and he was fairly thin. Squall guessed that he could easily take the stranger in a fight if he had to; judging by the man's size, Squall was definitely stronger but the stranger could have an advantage of his own. "I can't do that," was the hooded man's reply.

"Move," Squall demanded harshly. Without thinking, he took another step closer to the man standing in front of Sora.

He only realized it was a bad idea when it was too late; the stranger shot himself forward, grabbing hold of Squall's arm and making sure the revolver was pointed a safe distance away from himself and Sora. His other arm sent a fist flying which connected with the side of Squall's mouth. The stranger took advantage of Squall's pain and he used both hands to grab onto the gun and twisting it while he drove his foot into the brunet's gut.

The strength of the kick sent Squall stumbling backwards making his grip loosen on the gun and it was ripped from his fingers. He was only winded for a second and he came in for a counter attack before his opponent could figure out to do with the revolver. He thrust his arm up, hitting the stranger in the jaw making the other's teeth crash together painfully. Squall was lucky that his attack threw the hooded figure off and he was able to knock the gun out of the other's hands to where it landed safely in a pile of forgotten garbage bags lying on the side of the street.

"What's going on?" Squall heard Sora's worried voice and his eyes quickly darted from his opponent to the confused teen. Sora had found the side of the building and was leaning his right shoulder against the bricks. Squall didn't need to see Sora's face to know how frightened and helpless the kid felt in that moment. "Squall?"

"Don't worry Sora," Squall replied. The stranger tried to take advantage of Squall being distracted, but the brunet quickly dodged the oncoming attack. He grabbed the man by the arm, swinging him away from Sora. Still holding on, Squall sent a well-aimed kick to his opponent's side, successfully ripping the bone from its socket.

The stranger let out an ear-piercing scream as he was thrown face first onto the dirty pavement. Squall watched with satisfaction as the stranger struggled to get to his feet; he only managed to sit up while holding onto his dislocated shoulder. He sighed in defeat and looked up at Squall. "Please," he asked. "Will you just listen to what I have to say?"

"Not a chance," Squall replied, glaring down at the stranger. He jogged over to where Sora was huddled against the wall and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. Squall felt Sora's entire body tense at the soft touch. "It's me," he explained and Sora let out a breath of relief and visibly relaxed against the hand.

"What happened?" Sora asked as Squall started to steer him away from the stranger still sitting defeated on the damn pavement. The man tried getting up again and was successful in getting to his feet. He stood in place for a moment before taking a shaky step towards Squall and Sora.

"I'll explain later," Squall replied. He paused for a moment to fish the combat knife out of its sheath from its place strapped around his ankle. Squall brought the blade to Sora's wrists and quickly sliced apart the material of the bonds that held them together. Squall reached up and pulled the blindfold down from Sora's eyes and let it rest loosely around the teenager's neck. "We need to go," Squall said taking Sora's right hand in his left and pulling the small brunet forward.

"Wait," Squall heard the stranger call after them. "Please, you don't understand!"

Squall ignored the stranger and took off in a run pulling Sora along behind him. He looked back before turning down the street and was thankful they were not being followed.

~*~

Sora didn't understand what was going on at all, but he ran along behind Squall nonetheless. His fingers felt strangely at home grasping Squall's hand. Every once in a while when Sora's hand started to slip, the older man's grip would tighten on his fingers; he found it difficult trying to keep up with Squall's pace

As they made their way running down the street, passing colourfully lit neon advertisements, Sora began to slow; not used to running or any other strenuous physical activity, he was panting heavily. Now seemed like a good a time as any to question Squall about what happened just outside the alley when he was blindfolded. He gradually slowed to a stop, pulling Squall with him.

Squall turned to face Sora, their hands still together and he seemed like he was going to ask why they had stopped, but one look at Sora and he understood. Sora felt exhausted and he pulled Squall with him to lean back against the side of an old clock repair shop to catch his breath.

After a few moments of taking deep breaths, Sora was finally able to choke out "What happened back there?"

Squall moved to stand close beside Sora as if trying to shield him from anyone else's view. "Someone else was trying to kidnap you," came his quiet reply. Sora could feel Squall's hot breath on his head; the older man had moved so he was now standing awkwardly hunched over him. Squall's other hand found its way to rest on the bricks on the other side of Sora's face.

"Kidnap me?" Sora repeated sounding confused. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

"I kidnapped you," Squall's voice reminded him. He felt the older man shift slightly closer to him.

"Right," Sora agreed and he frowned. There were still so many questions buzzing around in his mind about the night's events, but for the first time he was actually thinking about the situation he was in. Squall had taken him right out of his bedroom from the second story of his house. It couldn't have been an easy task, considering the building's security and not to mention the fact that it was the night where Sora had made an attempt at suicide.

"We need to get out of here," Squall said, bringing Sora out of his thoughts. He moved to continue their short journey back to Squall's apartment, but his effort was hindered when Sora refused to budge. He was small, but if he made a fuss, he knew that it would draw unwanted attention to them.

"Why did you kidnap me?" he asked, pulling Squall back so they could talk face to face.

Sora thought he saw Squall panic for a split second before his expression turned unreadable. "Sora," the older man said, using his free hand to pull the hood of Sora's sweater back over the teen's unruly chocolate spikes. "This isn't the time for that."

Sora stuck his bottom lip out in a pout, staring up into Squall's storm coloured eyes. "But I want to know," he whined softly.

Squall sighed. He pulled Sora close to him, his hand coming to rest on the boy's cheek and he rested his forehead against Sora's and their noses lightly touched. "We are almost home," he whispered, stroking the delicate skin beneath his fingers. "Your uncle spread missing posters of you all over town. If someone recognizes you then they'll take you away from me."

"But I," Sora began to protest but Squall made a very good point. The older brunet took all those precautions to ensure that they could still be together. Squall probably took a big risk in allowing Sora to roam his house freely, let alone taking the boy outside to see a bunch of fireflies.

"Sora," Squall warned.

Sora sighed at the hint of urgency in Squall voice. "Okay," he agreed as he adjusted the hood over his head so he could see easier. "Let's go."

He allowed Squall to lead him once more, the older man gently nudging him in the right direction. Though they were no longer holding hands, Squall put a protective arm around Sora's shoulder and they stayed like that as they walked quickly back to Squall's apartment.

~*~

Squall didn't think it was necessary for him to have his arm around Sora, but it was something that he felt he needed to do and Sora hadn't complained. Stepping out of the elevator Squall dug around in is pocket for his keys to unlock the door. After it was unlocked, he pushed the door open and let Sora walk in before he closed the door behind them.

With a frustrated sigh, Squall leaned back against the door and locked it as well as putting the chain up just in case. He closed his eyes and thought back to when Sora was almost taken, bringing his hand up to absent-mindedly run his fingers along the scar marring the bridge of his nose.

Before Squall had much time to analyze what happened and how he reacted he felt a weight on his body and he opened his eyes to see Sora half pressed up against him, with the boy's arms coming to rest around his waist. Sora was looking up at him with an innocent smile on his face.

"Trying to keep me in?" the teen gently teased.

Squall responded by putting an arm around Sora's shoulder and the other went to the boy's chin, tilting the teen's head up slightly. Their faces were only inches apart and Squall suddenly wanted to close the distance between them, but he did his best to suppress the urge.

"Trying to keep everyone else out," Squall replied. He settled with tugging off the Sora's hood and running his fingers through the wild chocolate spikes. Squall watched with fascination as Sora closed his eyes leaning into the touch as he repeated the motion.

"I'm okay with that," Sora whispered. Then Squall heard him ask another question, "Why did you kidnap me?"

Squall thought about telling the truth but he decided against it; Sora didn't need to know. He came to the conclusion that he'd have to tell Sora something that was true, but not the proper answer. "Because I want you," he said before he even realized he was speaking.

Sora appeared to be pleased with that answer. The corners of his mouth twitched into a bigger smile and his cheeks reddened. "I'm glad you did," Sora replied just before he stood up on his toes and his lips met with Squall's.

~*~

**_AN:_** I really have nothing to say about this chapter.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!


	8. Chapter Seven

_**Chapter Seven:**_

Hayner glanced over at his companion sitting at the windowsill of their apartment while he closed up the first-aid kit. "You know," he commented as he got up to put the white box back to where they kept it on a self in the bathroom. "If you keep frowning like that you're face is going to stay like that forever."

The only response he received from the younger teen was a grunt of annoyance. He could hear the rustle of movement but when Hayner returned to the living room he noticed his companion only rubbed at his left shoulder. He crossed the room and sat down in front of his roommate.

"I wished you had called me," he said taking the boy's restless right hand in his own. "Rather than taking that man on by yourself."

"It wouldn't have made a difference," Hayner could see his companion struggling with holding back tears. "They wouldn't listen to me."

"He could've killed you," Hayner whispered. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you." He released the hand he was holding and reached up with both his hands to gently make the teen face him. Hayner wiped away the tears that streamed down the cheeks he was holding before pulling the boy in for a short kiss. "I love you."

"I c-couldn't help it," the sobbing teen finally choked out. "I saw him and I just reacted. He's –"

"Shh," Hayner interrupted. He pulled the boy into his arms then lifted him from the windowsill. Carrying the teen into their bedroom, he gently rested him on the bed. "It's been a long day. You should get some rest."

Hayner placed a soft kiss on his lover's forehead before working on removing clothing. Careful of the teen's sore arm, he continued getting them ready for bed.

~*~

Regretfully Squall pulled back slightly from Sora's seeking lips. He looked down into the curious sapphire eyes. "What was that for?"

Sora merely blinked up at him with pink surfacing on his cheeks in embarrassment. The boldness of his previous move had vanished and Sora had reverted back to his shy self.

Squall couldn't fight the smirk that pulled at his lips and Sora pulled away, frowning at the older man for being teased. He stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from Squall.

"You still owe me answers," Sora let out, defiance in his voice. He was determined to know everything about what was going on.

"Do I?" Squall asked offhandedly. He leaned back against the front door and rested his hands in his pockets.

"Yes," Sora replied. "Start talking."

Realizing there was no way he was getting out of it, Squall sighed and walked past Sora, heading for the kitchen.

"Hey," Sora complained.

"Relax," Squall interrupted before Sora could get another word out. "Just going to grab a beer. And I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."

Sora curiously followed him into the kitchen and seated himself at the small table. He didn't know what Squall wanted to know, but he figured Squall wasn't going to talk on his own. He decided it was best to start at the beginning of today's crazy events, "why did you leave me alone?"

"Hmm?" He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle. He twisted the cap off and offered it to Sora.

Sora only stared at the brown bottle. "I'm seventeen."

Squall shrugged, closing the fridge door a little harder than necessary. He sat on the counter beside, and took a few swigs of the cold alcoholic drink.

"In the street or wherever it was," Sora clarified. "You left me alone and that's when that guy came at me."

"I saw someone I knew," Squall replied. He figured going with the truth was his best option, leaving out the parts that Sora shouldn't know. "I thought you'd be safe there but I was wrong."

Sora was silent for a moment, mulling over the new information in his head.

"Did that kid say anything to you?" Squall asked.

"He said that he wanted me to come with him," Sora said, playing with the sleeve of his hoodie. "And when I refused, he grabbed my arm and started pulling. Said that I was in danger and it was really important that I go with him. Do you know who he was?"

"No."

"What happened when you came back?" Sora questioned. "It sounded like a fight."

"It was a fight." Squall said, bringing his hand up to touch the tender spot on his cheek where the stranger's fist had connected with his face. When he wasn't drinking from it, he kept the cold bottle gently pressed against the sore spot.

Sora's eyes followed the movement to Squall's mouth. "Your lip is cut," he said.

"Yours was the first time we met as well," the older man replied. "And that brings me to one of my questions. Who has been abusing you?"

Sora's jaw dropped slightly at the sudden question. He had completely forgot about his violent and controlling uncle and the memories of the pain he had experienced brought tears to his eyes. He hung his head in shame, stuttering out the answer. "S-Seifer."

Squall took another drink of his beer while he contemplated what to say next. "You want to know why I kidnapped you?" he asked after a moment. "Because you deserve better. I wanted to take you away from harm. Keep you safe." It was technically a lie, but it was the closest thing to what Squall was truly feeling; he wished it were the real reason he took the boy.

Sora glanced up at him, he didn't say anything, but his expression showed his thanks.

Setting down his now empty beer bottle, Squall slipped off the counter onto his feet and crossed the kitchen to pull Sora up as well. Without words, he led the boy into his bedroom and they both climbed into bed. Neither of them caring that they were both still fully closed, Squall opened his arms and Sora cuddled against the man's chest. It wasn't long before they both fell into a comfortable sleep.

~*~

They were both woken up early the next morning by a knock on Squall's door. Hesitantly, he climbed out of bed and silently made his way to the front door of his apartment to see what all the noise was about.

Before he even reached the door, he heard a familiar female voice from the other side of the door.

"Squall," Kairi's voice came somewhat muffled through the door. "I know you're in there. Open up."

Without bothering to answer the annoyed woman, he unlocked and opened the door. "Finally" she said as she brushed past him, holding a newspaper in her hand. "I've been waiting out there for five minutes." She took a moment to smooth one of her hands through her short red hair. As if finally take the time to look over Squall's appearance, she added, "You look like shit."

"Good morning to you too," Squall replied, already as annoyed as she was.

But as soon as he spoke, she turned on her heel, waving the newspaper she held in his face. "This is him, isn't it," she demanded pointing to the picture of Sora printed in full colour on the front page. "That boy you took. It's Sora Almasy, right?"

Squall glared at the offending piece of recycled paper and ripped it from her grasp, scanning the article. "He's offering a million dollar reward for Sora's safe return," he whispered in disbelief.

"So it is him," Kairi said, her suspicions confirmed. "Seifer Almasy had a meeting with the press last night offering the reward. And there's another $100,000 reward to anyone who has any information about his nephew's whereabouts."

"Damn it," Squall cursed. This made things a little more complicated. "His uncle doesn't even want him so why go through the trouble of causing a scene to get him back?"

"Politics, little brother," Kairi replied. "If someone finds out that the kid is gone and that no one reported him missing, then Seifer is made the bad guy. Mr Big Bad CEO has to keep the public on his side."

"Half brother," Squall replied out of habit.

"Whatever," she replied with a wave of her hand. "Why did you even kidnap Sora?"

"Squall?"

Both adults turned to the new voice joining the conversation. Only half of Sora was visible from hiding in the doorframe of Squall's bedroom. He stared curiously at Kairi.

"Oh," she breathed out, just as curious about the boy as he was about her. "How are your wrists healing, sweetie?"

Sora pulled back slightly, shocked that this strange woman knew about his attempt at suicide. He stood completely still, refusing to budge an inch.

"Well, come on," Kairi tried again. "Let me have a look at them."

With a worried expression, Sora glanced over to Squall. All of the other man's emotions were carefully hidden behind a blank expression.

"She's a nurse," was all Squall offered about the woman.

It was good enough for Sora, so he walked the few paces until he was standing in front of her. She took his wrists before he had a chance to offer them and began examining the scabs.

"These are healing nicely," she concluded, smiling down at Sora, a smile that he couldn't help but return.

"Who are you?" he tried asking as politely as possible.

"Oh my, where are my manners," Kairi exclaimed, "My name is Kairi. I'm Squall's older sister."

"Half sister," Squall corrected again.

A small 'oh' was all Sora could think of to say.

"I patched you up when Squall first brought you home," she explained almost too cheerily.

"That's enough," Squall interrupted before she had a chance to say any more. "Isn't there some sick people you should be tending to?"

As if on cue, a loud beeping noise sounded in the room. Kairi released Sora's hands and fumbled for the source of the jingle. "That would be my pager," she said, looking over the small black device. "I have to go."

"Good-bye," Squall said as she headed for the door and in another second she was gone, the door slamming behind her.

Sora turned to Squall now that they were the only two left in the apartment. "You never told me you have a sister," he said almost sounding offended that he didn't already know this piece of information.

"You never asked," Squall replied quickly. He retreated into the kitchen successfully ending the conversation.

~*~

"I have to go out for a little while," Squall said, breaking the silence after eating breakfast and getting cleaned up. He eyed Sora carefully; the teen was surprised at first, then his expression melted into disappointment.

"I can't go with you," Sora guessed.

Squall nodded. "I can't take you with me. Not during the day, and definitely not after everyone has had a chance to read this morning's newspaper."

"It's because of the reward isn't it?"

Squall didn't reply but Sora already knew the answer.

"I shouldn't be too long," Squall said grabbing his keys on his way to the door. He turned and paused to take one last look at Sora before he closed and looked the door behind himself.

Squall trusted that he didn't need to remind Sora not to do anything stupid. He knew that the teen understood that the safest place for him was with Squall. And Squall highly doubted that Sora would be dumb enough to do something that would place either of them in harm's way.

It took longer than Squall had thought to make his way back to place where the deal was supposed to take place last night. He was there for one reason only: to retrieve his missing revolver.

Taking the last step around the corner to where the fight happened, Squall froze in place. He quickly recovered and hid back behind the corner, hoping to go unnoticed by the two men already standing in the alley. Squall silently cursed his bad luck.

He could hear garbage bags being moved and tossed around. The people were looking for his gun. Squall guessed that one of them was the attacker from the night before and the other probably a bodyguard.

All he knew was that he had to get his revolver back, and Squall was too busy trying to figure out his plan of action that he only realized that the men had snuck up on him when it was too late.

From around the corner, the pair of strangers came. The boy from last night was holding the gun in his good hand; safety off and pointed right at Squall. His injured arm held in place by a sling, the teen glared at Squall.

Sighing in defeat, Squall slowly raised his hands halfway in the air. He struggled to keep the panic he felt from showing on his face. His only thought was what would happen to Sora if the stranger killed him.

"Where is he?" the stranger growled, his index finger caressing the trigger. "What the fuck did you do to him?"

The other man took a step forward, placing his hand on his partner's shoulder. "Calm down," he whispered. "You won't get any answers if you kill him."

The taller of the two was clearly the brains behind this operation, and Squall was thankful that one of them was logical. Unfortunately it meant that Squall was at a serious disadvantage. It was unlikely that he was going to walk away from this situation unharmed.

Much to Squall's surprise, the smaller teen backed off slightly at the request of his friend. He took the time now to look over the kid that was holding his weapon. There was something strangely familiar about the boy; maybe it was just because the blond reminded him of Sora. As Squall started into the eyes of the kid, he realized, to his horror, that they were the same shape and shade of blue as the teen he kidnapped.

"You can't be," Squall said before he even knew he was speaking.

"Shut up," the armed boy barked. He went to move forward but the taller blond still held him in place. "Tell me what you did with Sora."

"I –" Squall started but he was interrupted by the impatient teen.

"If you hurt him I swear, I'll kill you."

"Sora is fine," Squall finally managed to get out. "Why are you so concerned about him?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the boy laughed sarcastically. "My name is Roxas. Sora's my brother. My twin."

~*~

**_AN:_** Sorry about the long wait, and if there are any mistakes. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


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